Tuesday, 28 December 2010

The facts: The bathroom medicine cabinet may seem like an ideal place for keeping vitamins and supplements. But research suggests otherwise.

In studies, scientists have found that the warm, moisture-rich conditions found in most bathrooms tend to degrade vitamins and other supplements over time.

Researchers have found that this process, known as deliquescence, can reduce the potency of vitamin B, vitamin C and other water-soluble supplements - even rendering them useless. Airtight lids do not necessarily solve the problem as opening and closing them allow humidity and moisture to get in.

In a study published this year by food scientists at Purdue University, researchers measured the stability of different vitamin C supplements in various temperatures and levels of humidity. They showed signs of degradation above 80 per cent humidity, a level of bathroom humidity that the steam from a hot shower could produce.

Other studies have found similar effects on thiamin, vitamin B6 and other water-soluble nutritional products expose to humid environments.

Even if you do not keep your vitamins in the bathroom, not that the average humidity in Singapore is 84 per cent.

Humidity levels can spike in kitchens as well. Fore best results, try keeping vulnerable products - like multivitamins, children’s vitamins or powdered health products - in a cool, dry area with little humidity, like the fridge. If your vitamins soften or develop dark spots, it means they have started degrading and should probably be discarded.

The bottom Line: Storing vitamins in a medicine cabinet and other humid areas can reduce their effectiveness.

Sunday, 26 December 2010

The survival of the fittest is the ageless law of nature, but the fittest are rarely the strong. The fittest are those endowed with the qualifications for adaptation, the ability to accept the inevitable and conform to the unavoidable, to harmonize with existing or changing conditions. - Dave E. Smalley

There is a point, of course, where a man must take the isolated peak and break with all his associates for clear principle; but until that time comes he must work, if he would be of use, with men as they are. As long as the good in them overbalances the evil, let him work with them for the best that can be obtained. - Theodore Roosevelt

For a person to build a rich and rewarding life for himself, there are certain qualities and bits of knowledge that he needs to acquire. There are also things, harmful attitudes, superstitions, and emotions that he needs to chip away. A person needs to chip away everything that doesn’t look like the person he or she most wants to become. - Earl Nightingale

Thursday, 23 December 2010

Just as water cools both good and bad and washes away all impurity and dust, in the same way you should develop thoughts of love to friend and foe alike, and having reached perfection in love, you will attain enlightenment.

A victor only breeds hatred, while a defeated man lives in misery, but a man at peace within lives happily, abandoning up ideas of victory and defeat.

Through zeal, knowledge is gotten, through lack of zeal, knowledge is lost; let a man who knows this double path of gain and loss thus place himself that knowledge may grow.

To utter pleasant words without practicing them, is like a fine flower without fragrance.

As an irrigator guides water to his fields, as an archer aims an arrow, as a carpenter carves wood, the wise shape their lives.

Little by little a person becomes evil, as a water pot is filled by drops of water...

Little by little a person becomes good, as a water pot is filled by drops of water.

More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm.

When one masters his wretched desire, which is so hard to overcome, then one’s sorrows just drop off, like a drop of water off a lotus.

Suffering does not befall him who is without attachment to names and forms.

There is only one reality in life - change. Everything changes, nothing remains without change.

If a man should do wrong, let him not do again nor take pleasure in it, for painful is the accumulation of evil.

A heart untouched by worldly things, not swayed by sorrow, passionless and secure - that is the greatest blessing.

Tuesday, 21 December 2010

The facts: Caffeine is known more as a pick-me-up than a home remedy but, for years, scientists have wondered whether it may have benefits for people with asthma.

The suspicion stems in part from its chemical structure, which resembles that of theophylline, a common asthma medication that relaxes the airway muscles and relieves wheezing and other respiratory problems.

In fact, when caffeine is ingested and broken down by the liver, one by-product is small amounts of theophylline.

In a 2007 study in the Cochrane Database Of Systematic Reviews, researchers analysed the results of half a dozen clinical trials looking at the effects of caffeine on asthmatics.

They found that caffeine produced small improvements in airway function for up to four hours, compared with a placebo. Even a small dose - less than the amount in a cup of Starbucks coffee - could improve lung function for up to two hours.

However, studies show the improvements are very slight and not enough to make caffeine a replacement for medication.

The other problem is that because of their chemical similarities, consuming too much caffeine can compound any side effects of theophylline.

As a result, doctors advise people taking that medication to watch their consumption of foods with caffeine.

Sunday, 19 December 2010

It’s okay that your parents aren’t perfect; no one’s are. And it’s okay that they didn’t have any perfect children either; no one’s are. You see, our whole purpose is to strive together in righteousness, overcoming our weaknesses day by day. Don’t ever give up on each other. - Ardeth Greene Kapp

Our personal world may seem vast, but within the perspective of a universe we are all like the frog in the well – so small, so limited, so unaware of the whole. Our challenge is to break out of our limitations, self-imposed or otherwise, and accept the fact of our limitless self, vitally interacting in a limitless universe. - Leo Buscaglia

During your life, everything you do and everyone you meet rubs off in some way. Some bit of everything you experience stays with everyone you’ve ever known, and nothing is lost. That’s what is eternal, these little specks of experience in a great, enormous river that has no end. - Harriet Doerr

Saturday, 11 December 2010

He who looks for me, that is, through any material form, or seeks me through any audible sound, that man has entered on an erroneous course, and shall never behold the Buddha.

The truth is open for all who can understand. You must be lamps unto your selves. You must depend upon no eternal refuge, depend on no leader, and depend on no teacher. Look within. You are the Buddha.

When we feel happy and peaceful, our happiness and peace radiates around us, and others can enjoy it as well. This is called ‘the enjoyment of others of our body of bliss’.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Let go the past, let go the future, and let go what is in between, transcending the things of time. With your mind free in every direction, you will not return to birth and aging.

He who, seeking his own happiness, punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness.

One act of pure love in saving life is greater than spending the whole of one’s time in religious offerings to the gods.

There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.

All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this in wisdom, then one becomes dispassionate towards the painful.

Though one should conquer a million men in battlefield, yet indeed he is the noblest victor who has conquered himself.

Do not speak harshly to any one; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful: blows for blows will touch thee.

Thursday, 9 December 2010

Be patient with all that is unresolved in your heart, and try to love the questions themselves. Do not seek the answers that cannot be given, for you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now, and perhaps without knowing it you will live along some day into the answers. - Rainer Maria Rilke

Do not assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. His life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, he would never have been able to find these words. - Rainer Maria Rilke

A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. . . . How could a person possibly become what he is not thinking? Nor is any thought, when persistently entertained, too small to have its effect. The ‘divinity that shapes our ends’ is indeed in ourselves. It is one’s very self. - Spencer W. Kimball

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

The facts: Talking on a cellphone for long periods can carry certain risks, like getting dirty looks from those around you. But allergies?

In recent years, dermatologists have seen a small but growing number of people with itchy rashes along their jaw lines, face and ears which go away when cellphone use is discontinued.

The reason, studies suggest, is an allergy to metals in the phones, most often nickel.

Women are more likely to be affected because they are often sensitised to it by ear piercings and metal jewellery, said Dr Clifford Bassett, a New York City allergist and fellow of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, who has treated the conditions.

It is unclear how many people develop allergic reaction to their phones but the medical literature is rife with case studies.

In a typical case, described by researchers at Brown University and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2008, an 18-year-old developed a strange rash on the right side of his face.

When his cellphone headset tested positive for nickel, he switched to a nickel-free phone and the allergy cleared up.

The researchers later tested 22 popular models of cellphones and found nickel in 10 of them, mostly in the headsets and menu buttons.

For those who suspect a metal allergy, a patch test at a doctor’s office can provide confirmation, Dr Bassett said, adding that a simple swab test can reveal the presence of nickel in a phone or other product.

The Bottom Line: In people with nickel allergies, cellphones can cause an allergic reaction.

Monday, 6 December 2010

When stressed or going through a difficult time, it is essential that you take the time to relax in order to replenish your mind, body, and spirit. Nurture your well-being by creating an oasis of calm in your life. Getting calm allows you to get a fresh perspective and helps you cope better physically and emotionally with your troubles. Being able to control at least one aspect of your life, in this case, time to yourself, helps you to get a grip on the rest of it. - Anonymous

Remember that you are an actor in a play, and that the Playwright chooses the manner of it: If he wants you to act a poor man you must act the part with all your powers; and so if your part be a cripple or a magistrate or a plain man. For your business is to act the character that is given you and act it well. The choice of the cast is Another’s. - Epictetus

When two texts, or two assertions, perhaps two ideas, are in contradiction, be ready to reconcile them rather than cancel one by the other; regard them as two different facets, or two successive stages, of the same reality, a reality convincingly human just because it is complex. - Marguerite Yourcenar

Sunday, 5 December 2010

It is in the nature of things, however dear they may be to us, that we must separate from them, leave and depart from them. Anything that is born, that is formed and brought into being, contains within itself the qualities naturally associated with its own dissolution.

Never have anything to do with likes and dislikes. The absence of what one likes is painful, as is the presence of what one dislikes. Therefore don’t take a liking to anything. To lose what one likes is hard, but there are no bonds for those who have no likes and dislikes. From preference arises sorrow, from preference arises fear, but he who is freed from preference has no sorrow and certainly no fear.

When the senses touch sense objects and the thoughts touch thought objects, the fires of lust and desire are kindled. Your ears hear praises of yourselves and then your thoughts think of self importance and you are fearful lest you lose the self-importance. You forget that this self is not the true self of you which is universal and deathless.

Once you understand non-self, then the burden of life is gone. You'll be at peace with the world. When we see beyond self, we no longer cling to happiness and we can truly be happy. Learn to let go without struggle, simply let go, to be just as you are - no holding on, no attachment, free.

If a man cares not if things are thus and not thus, then provided he has no harsh thoughts, he has indeed found happiness. He has certain security for he has found freedom from grief and care. Truly, he has overcome the world.

Improvement or degeneration, happiness or misery, are all the results of our deeds. We ourselves are moulders of our fate. No one else is to be blamed for our misery, or praised for our happiness.

Conditions all go their own natural way. Whether we laugh or cry over them, they just go their own way. And there is no knowledge of science that can prevent this natural course of things. Everything falls apart in the end.

All men tremble at punishment, all men fear death; remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter. He who, seeking his own happiness, punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after death.

Saturday, 4 December 2010

If your spiritual practice and the demands of your everyday life are not in harmony, it means there's something wrong with the way you are practicing. Your practice should satisfy your dissatisfied mind while providing solutions to the problems of everyday life. If it doesn't, check carefully to see what you really understand about your religious practice. - Anonymous

You are here because this existence needs you as you are. Otherwise somebody else would have been here and the existence would not have helped you to be here, wouldn’t have created you. You are fulfilling something very essential, something very fundamental as you are !!! - Anonymous

When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless. We say "inner world" or "outer world" but actually, There is just one whole world. - Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

When you are deluded and full of doubt, even a thousand books of scripture are not enough. When you have realized understanding, even one word is too much. - Fen-yang

When the Light of Purpose illuminates our lives, we will see clearly the Path on which we are to walk. - George Petavine

Friday, 3 December 2010

The doctor shook his head sadly and said in a mournful voice. “I’m sorry to say that you are suffering from a severe case of bronchial pneumonia and, as you know, it is extremely contagious.”

With a deep sigh, the patient slowly turned to his wife and in a pathetically weak voice said, “Dear, if any of our creditors start hounding you again, tell them I’m finally in a position to give them something.”

Thursday, 2 December 2010

All of us seek happiness. All of us want to be happy, and free of suffering. Nobody wants to be sad, miserable and unhappy. And yet, there are so many unhappy people around. Why is happiness so elusive? Or is it really? Maybe the fault lies in our looking for happiness in the wrong places, in our not understanding what happiness means, and what makes us happy.

Due to ignorance, we strive to find happiness in places where it cannot be found. We keep on doing this because superficial appearances delude us into thinking that it can be found where we seek it – within the world of desires and senses. However, true happiness cannot be found there. Thus, our efforts lead us to more frustration and unhappiness.

So where can happiness be found? How can one be happy? What is the definition of happiness? Perhaps the answer lies in the following words of wisdom.